Lubricated vehicle spring



Dec. 15, 1925. 1,565,436

R. A. GREENWALD ET AL LUBRiCATED VEHICLE SPRING Filed Oct. 25, 1923 an ue-nfoz Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REINHOLD A. GREENWALD, OF NEENAH, AND PHILIP J. GAZEGKI, OF MENASHA,

- WISCONSIN.

LUBRICATED VEHICLE SPRING.

Application filed. October 25, 1923. Serial No. 670,?37.

1 0 all whom it ma y concern Be it known that we, REINI-IOLD A. GREEN- WALD and PHILIP J. GAZECKI, citizens of the United States, residing at Neenah and Menasha, respectively, in the county of Winnebago, State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Lubricated Vehicle Spring; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to vehicle springs, and has for its object to provide a vehicle spring which is lubricated between the leaves thereof at all times, thereby obviating the present trouble with semi-elliptic springs of the type used on automobiles wherein squeaking develops incident to the flexing of the spring and incident to corrosion between the leaves.

A further object is to provide a semielliptic spring comprising a plurality of superimposed leave-s, the intermediate leaves being provided with elongated channels on their upper sides, which channels terminate in ports extending entirely through the leaves in registration with the channels of the adjacent leaves below, thereby allowing all of the channels of the leaves to be filled with oil from a single filling opening carried by one of the upper leaves.

A further object is to provide transversely disposed channels in the upper face of one of the leaves, preferably the upper channeled leaf, which transversely disposed channels form vent means for preventing the oil as it is poured into the springs from being airbound.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawing, described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation of the spring.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale through a portion of the spring.

Figure 3 is a collective view showing in top plan view the various leaves of the spring.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view through one end of the spring taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing the numeral 1 designates a semi-elliptic spring of the type used in connection with automobiles, which spring is formed from a plurality of leaves 2 disposed intermediate the upper leaf 3 and the lower leaf 4. The leaves are connected together in the usual manner by means of a bolt 5 and clamps 6. In springs of the type used in connection with vehicles, particularly automobiles rust collects between the leaves adjacent their ends and during the flexing of the springs incident to the bound and rebound the springs squeak and consequently make an objectionable noise as well as deteriorate. To obviate this difficulty the intermediate leaves 2 have their upper sides provided with longitudinally disposed grooves 7, which grooves are preferably semi-circular in vertical cross section and are in communication with each other adjacent their ends through apertures 8 in the bottoms of the grooves, which apertures register with the adjacent grooves. The lower leaf l is provided with a longitudinally disposed groove 9, which forms the bottom of the lubricant chamber as a whole, therefore it will be seen that when oil is placed in the uppe groove 7 through the filling opening 10, the grooves may be filled with oil and consequently the engaging sides of the leaves forming the spring will be thoroughly lubricated at all times. The distribution of the oil between the leaves is accomplished during theflexing action of the spring and by capillary attraction.

To prevent the spring from becoming airbound and consequently prevent the filling of the grooves with lubricant, the upper intermediate leaf 2 is provided with transversely disposed grooves 11, which grooves are relatively small so that relatively thick oil will not flow therethrough but air will pass therethrough, consequently air may escape during the forcing of lubricant into the sprin From tie above it will be seen that a lubricating spring is provided, which spring is simple in construction and one wherein the outside design of the sprin is not varied. It will also be seen that In ricant willbe constantly supplied between the leaves of the spring and air vent means is provided for preventing the lubricant receiving chan' nels from becoming airbound during the forcing of lubricant into the spring. The

lubricating system may be applied to other types of springs.

The invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and useful is lthe combination with a semi elliptic spring formed from aplurality of superimposed leaves, the intermediate leaves having their upper sides provided with longieeaese tudinally disposed grooves havingports of communication adjacent their ends with each other, a securing bolt extending through said leaves and the grooves in a manner whereby they will not interfere with the passage of lubricant entirely through the grooves, the upper intermediate leaf being provided with transversely disposed air vents located on opposite sides of the bolt, thereby allowing escape of air adjacent the upper side of the spring as a whole.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification.

REINHOLD A. GREENWALD. PHILIPJ. GAZECKI. 

